Life as a copier sales rep is dynamic, exciting, full of surprises and financial rewarding. However, this field is also highly competitive, particularly when economic business conditions become tight or as most of you can relate to commoditization. Overcoming the odds and keeping your sales numbers high can be challenging which is why you have to actively work at improving your results. The good news is one way you can become a top-performing copier rep is by creating a personal business plan and putting it into practice on a daily basis.
"Unless commitment is made there are only promises and hopes; but no plans"
Peter Drucker
For me, a huge part of my personal business plan involves reading. For those who know me know I am a voracious reader. I read at minimum one hour per day. I found the key to my success came through self-education. However, this is not just found in a book, it’s my philosophy on life. I came to the conclusion early on in my copier sales career, if I wanted to become the best then I must make a commitment to self-educate myself. Your success is directly attributed to your work ethic and the commitment you make to yourself.
I do have to thank my dad for instilling this in me. I didn't realize how important this would be until later in life. My dad self-educated himself through two Ivy League schools to become a very successful Rocket Scientist for the U.S. Air Force. I kept hearing this quote from my dad over and over again...
"Invest in yourself, or no one else will"
As a copier sales rep I encourage you all to do the same. It all starts with making a commitment to become the very best at what you do.
I have to thank my new friend Justin Dorsey for the inspiration behind this post.
My book-shelves are lined with many great books, in fact too many to list, however; these 7 books will be great additions to copier sales reps book-shelves.
7 Sales Books For Copier Sales Reps to Invest in to Help Them Achieve Sales Success!
1. A Seat at the Table - How Top Salespeople Connect and Drive Decisions at the Executive Level. Your clients and prospects are looking for value in the form of help, specifically strategic help. Work to help them connect or reconnect to their strategies.
2. Rainmaking Conversations - Influence, Persuade and Sell in any Situation. Your conversations with C-level executives make or break everything in sales. Every conversation you have as a copier rep is an opportunity to find new prospects and engage in deeper conversations with your current clients.
3. New Sales Simplified - The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development. Nothing kills a copier sales rep faster than a weak sales funnel. A weak sales funnel is caused by a lack of prospecting and the fundamentals around business development.
4. Not Taught - What it Takes to be Successful in the 21st Century that Nobody's Teaching You. I owe a lot to Keenan for his support, our conversations and his inspiration drove me to consistently blog. Simply put... "If you want to be successful in today's world, you need to create brand YOU and promote the **** out of it"
5. Slow Down, Sell Faster - Understand Your Customer's Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales. It is about creating lasting relationships with your customers. Furthermore, it is hard to sell anything to anybody if you can't take the time to build an authentic, personal business relationship.
"Reading is a starting step of many things, which build a more solid stairs for you to climb up achieving something big out there"
6. Start With Why - How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. As copier sales reps I am sure you can articulate what you do, why you are different or even better; but very few can articulate the WHY. Inspire your clients and prospects by sharing your WHY.
7. Fanatical Prospecting - The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, E-Mail, Text and Cold Calling. This will clearly open up your eyes to the number one reason sales reps funnels are ridden with holes - lack of prospecting! A must read in opening up more sales conversations.
Bonus Book for Copier Reps
8. The Start-up of You - Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself and Transform Your Career. Simply put, as a copier rep if you want to seize new opportunities and meet the challenges of today's fractured career landscape, you must think, act and conduct yourself like you are running a start-up, your career!
Copier Sales Reps Should Read Sales Books
One thing which distinguishes the highest-performing copier sales reps from the rest is a commitment to continuous learning. It doesn’t matter how many books you’ve read or sales techniques you’ve mastered; as the office equipment landscape continues to grow and evolve, there will always be new tools and best practices you can apply to take your career even further.
Please give thought to your upward mobility when reading. Numerous studies have proven leaders are readers. If you are content within your dealership and you want to stay this way, I totally understand and respect your choice (and it is your career). However, if you want to be in control of your destiny and your career, reading is one of the best things you can do for yourself.
The average CEO reads 5 books a month. Aren't these typically the people who work about 60 to 70 hours a week? Yet they make it a priority to read. How do they get time? This is very important to them so they make time to read. I have yet to read about a C-level executive, who mentions he or she has reached the top by watching TV.
If you need a gentle nudge or some guidance I am always here to help or lend an ear if you ever would like to have a conversation.
What is your favorite sales book? Please share in the comment section.
If you enjoyed please share your comments. Look forward to connecting and starting a conversation.
Check out more at the Social Sales Academy blog site.
Please enjoy my other posts on LinkedIn Publisher and on SlideShare
I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my LinkedIn stories. Integrating the use of LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive copier world. With great pride I transform and coach copier sales professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help independent office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy
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